Satoshi Ishii won the Olympic judo heavyweight gold medal in Beijing, and that made him a star in Japan.

But the 21-year-old Ishii is giving up on judo and taking his talents to a new sport: mixed martial arts. The Japanese newspaper Sports Nippon is reporting (via FightOpinion.com) that Ishii will make his MMA debut at the New Year’s Eve at K-1 Dynamite event at Saitama Super Arena.

Ishii has been talking about switching to MMA since almost the moment the gold medal was put around his neck; he challenged Fedor Emelianenko in August and has been talking about MMA regularly since then. With few opportunities to make a living in Olympic sports like judo, taekwondo and wrestling, MMA is likely to be the professional option for increasing numbers of Olympians.